Rail-splice.



PATENTED NOV. 29, 1904.

- S. WALLWORK.

RAIL SPLICE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 8, 1904.

2 SflEETB-BHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

,J a I gamue/ Wa/hwar/( PATENTED NOV. 29, 1904.

S. WALLWORK.

RAIL SPLICE.

APPLICATION FILED we. a, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

2 BEEE'IBBEEBT 2.

UNITED STATES Patented November 29, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

RAIL-SPLICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 776,098, dated November29, 1904i.

Application filed August 8, 1904. Serial No, 219,927. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL WVuLLwoRK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Brockwayville, in the county of Jefferson and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRail-Splices; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to rail joints or splices; and the particularobject of the same is to provide a strong durable device for thispurpose which will not require the use of rivets for holding the meetingends of the rails together.

Another object of the device is to provide means for securing themeeting ends of the rails together in a reliable and durable manner bymeans of a device which will not require skilled labor in assembling theparts and which will be a strong, reliable, and eflicient joint whenassembled or connected.

I attain these and other objects by means of the constructionillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whieh- Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a rail-joint made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 aperspective View of the outside plate or chair for the rail. Fig. 3 is across-section through the plates and the rail. Fig. 4 is a plan view ofa key used to secure the two plates in position. Fig. 5 is a plan viewof the rail-joints, showing the key in place socured to a tie; and Fig.6 is a side View of a modified form of the outer plate or chair.

Referring to the drawings for a more detailed description of theinvention,the numeral 1 designates the end of the rail, and 2 is thescarf-joint of the meeting ends of said rails. It will be understood, ofcourse, that for the purpose of my invention the rails may be providedwith plain abutting ends. The outer plate or chair 3 for my joint ismade from a single piece of sheet metal and provided with a flange 4:,conforming to the web of the rail and downwardly-curved portion 5, whichconforms to the flange of the rail and base portion 6, upon which thebottom of the rail rests, and an inwardly curved or hooked portion 7which forms a keeper for a lockingplate 1. The base portion 6 atopposite ends of the plate 1 is extended outwardly beyond the hook orkeeper 7, and its extending epds are perforated to form spikeholes forsecuring the plate to contiguous ties. Lugs 8 8 oktend inward from theflange l, and said lugs are adapted to engage perforations 9 9 in theends of the rail-sections. It will be noticed that the plate 3 tapersslightly toward one end in order that the wedge piece or keeper 1" wheninserted in place Will hold the ends of the rails firmly in place. Thewedge-piece 1 is also made of a single piece of sheet metal andcomprises a base-flange 10, a curved portion 11, which conformssubstantially to the upper surface of the flange of the rail and asubstantially vertical flange 12, which conforms to the shape of the webof the rail. This wedge 1 is inserted within the outer plate, thebase-flange being inserted between the bottom of the rail and the baseportion of the outer plate and is then driven toward the smaller end ofthe outer plate to wedge the two parts together.

WVhen lirml y connected and spiked down to the ties, the key 13 isinserted within the outer end of the wedge at theside of the flange ofthe rail and is then spiked down to the tie to hold said key in place.This key '13 consists ofa flat piece of sheet metal having a hooked end14 and a shank 13, said shank being provided with spike-holes whichpermit considerable range of the :uljustment of the key longitudinallyof the splice.

As shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, the lugs 8 8 are omitted, and it hasnot been deemed necessary to use these lugs in all cases, as the jointcan be securely connected without using the lugs and without formingholes in the ends of the rails.

From the foregoing description it will be obvious that my rail-joint iscomparatively simple in construction, may be quickly as sembled forconnecting the ends of rails in a firm and reliable manner, and that thedevice may be used for connecting rails already in use without requiringa removal of the rails.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A rail-joint comprising an outer plate adapted to partially surroundthe rail at the joint and provided with lugs to engage the rail ends anda keeper, a wedge-piece adapted to slide within the outer plate andengage the keeper and a key inserted in one end of the wedge-piece andadapted to be connected to a tie, substantially as described.

2. A rail-joint comprising, a sheet-metal chair narrower at one end thanthe other and adapted to be secured to contiguous ties, means forconnecting the meeting ends of rails to said chair, a Wedge adapted tobe inserted within the chair under the rails and wedged therein and akey having a hooked end engaging the end of the wedge and connected to atie, substantially as described.

3. A rail-joint comprising a chair for partially surrounding the rail,means at the opposite ends of said chair for connecting it to contiguousties, a keeper on said chair, a

nesses.

SAM. WVALLVORK. lVitnesses:

A. R. CHAPIN, J. H. MILLER.

